The Biden administration’s Surgeon General, Vivek H. Murthy, released a 22-page report to counter “misinformation” and control the narrative on COVID-19.
Murthy’s report, entitled, “Confronting Health Misinformation: The U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory on Building a Healthy Information Environment,” purports to teach Americans how to identify “misinformation,” and gives examples of what communities, schools, the media, research institutions, funders, foundations, families, health professionals and the government can do to stop it.
Defining Misinformation
The report defines “misinformation” as distinct from “disinformation,” which is intended to “trick people into believing something for financial gain or political advantage.” Health “misinformation,” the report states, reduces the “willingness of people to seek effective treatment.”
The report gives examples of “misinformation tactics used by those who deny scientific consensus on health issues.” Tactics named include “presenting unqualified people as experts; misleading consumers with logical fallacies; setting impossible expectations for scientific research; cherry-picking data or anecdotes; and introducing conspiracy theories.”
At a White House News Conference, Murthy singled out social media companies that “have enabled misinformation to poison our information environment with little accountability to their users.”
Scientific Consensus Misunderstood
The surgeon general is wrong on “scientific consensus,” says Joel Hirschhorn, author of Pandemic Blunder.
“Scientific consensus is a mirage produced by the suppression of data, information, and diverse views by physicians and medical researchers on most pandemic health issues,” Hirschhorn said.
“The goal should not be to respect imaginary scientific consensus that mostly represents propaganda but to always seek alternative facts and opinions by highly experienced and credentialed medical experts,” Hirschhorn said. “We need more Americans to dig deep into alternative news sources to fully see that there is no scientific consensus on the most important pandemic health issues. Sadly, the government creates false consensus on nearly all pandemic health issues and therefore does not deserve public respect or trust.”
-Staff Reports
This is no different than the “scientific consensus” that has been used for several years (now) to promote the “Climate Crisis.” Just an easier way to promote your larger political agenda using “science” as a smoke screen to stifle thoughtful & meaningful debate. Poorly “masked” authoritarianism..
Yes. Science is how the powerful define it. If our lords truly appreciated science, they would understand that skeptism comes part and parcel. Otherwise, why ever do replication studies? This document has the stamp of approval of the U.S. Surgeon General. Since when did that role entail telling people how to think?